Get your SPOOK on

I am not sure why we have never seen The Witch before last night. I think I had started it previously and it started off super slow in the beginning. We decided to finish it off last night and was surprised at how good and different the story is.

Plot

We start off in 1630 New England at the height of the Puritan Migration from England. The opening scenes show a family being banished from a Plantation and forced to live on their own. The family struggles to make ends meet. The main character Thomasin is caught between her parent’s expectations and being one of the siblings.

Nightmare becomes a reality as we see the youngest member of the family abducted from right under Thomasin’s nose while she is playing peek a boo, carried into the forest by “The Witch” and sacrificed, apparently to make a “Flying Ointment.” It goes into gruesome detail which I did not care for.

The Father believes that the child was carried away by a wolf and the mother believes that his soul is in Hell due to their belief that anyone that has not been baptized will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. The family continues to struggle with his kidnapping, but things get worse when Caleb (The oldest son) and Thomasin head out to check the traps for food. Upon encountering a rabbit in the woods, their horse is startled and knocks Thomasin off, knocking her unconscious. Caleb ran off into the woods in search of the family dog who was with them.

Caleb eventually hears the dog whimpering and eventually comes across the lifeless body of the dog. A few moments later he is lured into the presence of a witch and disappears for a time. After a few hours, he is found by Thomasin completely naked and in some sort of trance out by the goat pen.

That is where things go completely insane.

Go watch the rest!

The Witch is available on Netflix as of the time of the posting

Thoughts

The Witch starts off very slow and hard to get into due to the authentic nature of how they talk in Puritan society. Thee and Thou are used throughout along with the constant repetition of bible verses. The music and sound effects add a lot to the suspense of the movie, causing you to feel uneasy the whole time. The acting could have been a little better, but it may have distracted from the storyline, which is a unique tale, to say the least.

Cut along the same lines of Hereditary, the plot and story is slow moving and progressing to the last 15 minutes which are absolutely insane. The movie leaves you with an uneasy feeling, a reality check that evil like this exists in this world. The realistic nature and non-happy ending also are something that is missing from the Horror Genre too much lately. Not every tale has a happy ending and neither does The Witch.

The town of Mercur first came into existence in 1870 not as Mercur, but as Lewistown. A small gold rush began when gold was discovered at the head of Lewistown Canyon. The population reached as high as 2000 in 1873. Silver also was booming in the area, but soon died out and the city of Lewistown was a ghost town by 1880. After a viable process for mining using Cyanide was adopted, the city began to flourish again extracting Gold from newly mined ore as well as the leftover tailings. The city of Mercur was established in 1896. The town enjoyed a reputation of being the most moral and quiet camp on the continent due to the number of churches and good school system. On June 26, 1902, in the lower part of town, hot grease in a skillet caught fire in a Chinese lunch shack. The owner stepped out back and threw the burning grease on the ground. But a gust of wind blew the searing grease against the wooden walls of the shack.

Within a matter of minutes, the entire lower part of town was engulfed in flames. Within 2 ½ hours, every business building in Mercur Utah had been destroyed. Even the stone ones. Fortunately, most of the homes as well as the mill were spared.

At the time there was about 5000 residents in the city, making it one of Utah’s biggest cities. The entire business area which at that time was about 40-50 stores, were completely destroyed. The city rebuilt itself and continued mining operations, but by 1913, the mining operations had discontinued and by 1916, the buildings were all gone. In recent history, the gold mine was resumed by Barrick Mercur Gold Mines Foundations, still pulling millions of dollars from the old mines.

The City Cemetery is marked only by a large rock with a plaque and houses one of the spookiest cemeteries anywhere. Weathered tombstones dot the area with picket fences around the graves. Several paranormal researchers have documented feeling uneasy, feeling like they are being watched, voices coming through digital equipment, and intelligent answers to questions posed. Several researchers also complain of batteries being drained and equipment not working properly. At night, you may also see orbs, hear galloping horses, and whisperings. This is one of the most active locations in Utah

Layton Utah, situated north of Salt Lake City contains a haunted secret. Layton Park. During World War Two, the city of Layton was transformed by the construction of Hill Field, an important supply and maintenance base for the US Military. With the large influx of servicemen and women and their families, space was needed to house them. On open Farmland, Verdeland Park was constructed. Over half of Layton’s total city population lived in the 72 acre park and even after the war, many service men made that their home. By 1962 the city within a city closed down.

The city of Layton purchased the land and turned it into Schools, Government Buildings and a very large city park. Because of its large boom and bust, the area is a hotbed for paranormal activity including feeling like you are being followed, feeling uneasy in the parks large trails, there are reports of swings moving on their own with no wind present, little girls being seen by children, black figures under trees and voices being recorded as saying “Get Out!”

History of the hotel

The Ben Lomond Hotel stands on Washington Boulevard in the city but this wasn’t its original name. The hotel was built in 1927 to replace a hotel called the Reed Hotel and was originally called the Bigelow Hotel then it changed named against in 1933 when a new owner took over and renamed it the Ben Lomond Hotel. It was built by Hodgson and McClenehan who also built the Egyptian Theatre and the Forest Service Building in the city.

The name was in honour of the mountains in the Highlands of Scotland by the new owner Marriner Eccles. He loved the area himself and wanted to name his new hotel in honour of it. The hotel was also the highest structure in the city at thirteen stories with two of these being underground.

At first, the hotel wasn’t such a grand establishment and was more of a boarding house. In fact, it was populated by the less ‘socially prestigious’ of the time and during Prohibition, a tunnel was constructed to smuggle various kinds of alcohol into the building. Prostitutes, gangs and criminal activity was common within its walls.

It took its current form in the 1980s when it was bought and transformed into a 120 suite hotel. Originally elements such as marble floors and crystal chandeliers can still be seen and the building is now on the National Historic Registries.

Ben Lomond Hotel is haunted

hauntedtravelsusa.com

One of the most curious stories of the Ben Lomond Hotel haunted past are the elevators. Despite the fact that no-one is operating them, the elevators like to work, moving up and down between floors without anyone having pressed any buttons.At night, staff will report the elevator appearing on the lobby then going to tenth floor and stopping, as if letting someone off.

One of the oldest ghosts in the hotel appears to be associated with a mother and son and with Room 1102. The woman was honeymooning in the hotel when there was an accident and she died, drowning in the hotel bath. Since then, the room has countless reports of the bath filling itself up with water as well as actual sightings of the women’s ghost.

Her son later came to claim his mother’s belongings (presumably this was her second marriage). He was allowed to stay in the same room but became distraught and depressed. He decided to take his own life to join his mother. Guests have report voices of a man in the room as well as staff encountering their ghosts.

Other reports include that there are calls received from Room 1102 but no one is ever there when reception answers them. The woman was said to wear a lilac perfume and this is often smelled around the hotel, even when no-one is present.

The Freemasons have always had a history of being linked with the occult. The secret nature of their rituals may have something to do with it. The Salt Lake Masonic Temple has its own resident spirit. The Temple, built in 1926-1927 has been said to be haunted for many years. While cleaning out an old storage room, an urn was found with the ashes of a man named Charles Valentine. The was a mason. No one knows why the ashes were not buried correctly. Since that time, strange things happen in this old building. Doors open when they are closed and locked. Lights turn on when they are off and vice versa. You can hear doors slam when no one else is in the building. These stories have come from the caretakers that have worked there. One such caretaker even reported seeing a young girl down a hallway and childrens footprints in ashes.

Coming Soon

Movie Reviews

I am not sure why we have never seen The Witch before last night. I think I had started it previously and it started off super slow in the beginning. We decided to finish it off last night and was surprised at how good and different the story is. ...